All posts tagged William Friedkin

William Friedkin won an Oscar for best director for “The French Connection” (1971), and his 1973 film “The Exorcist” is one of the top-grossing horror movies ever, but he still considers his masterpiece to be 1977′s poorly received “Sorcerer.” It’s out this week (April 22) on Blu-ray in a restored version that does help make his case.

“I think this is the first time anyone has seen it,” says the director, now 78, whose latest film was “Killer Joe” in 2011. “No, really. Even the first prints were nowhere near as good as this digital print. It looks exactly as it did when I saw it through the viewfinder of the camera.”

A remake of the 1953 French drama “The Wages of Fear,” “Sorcerer” is about a collection of desperados who have committed crimes in separate parts of the world and fled to an impoverished South American village to escape the consequences. Roy Scheider stars, coming off his work in “Jaws” and “Marathon Man,” as a member of a gang that robs a New Jersey church and kills a priest whose brother is a vengeful mobster. Desperate for money while in hiding, the men sign up for a suicide-mission job to drive cases of high-explosive nitroglycerin through mountains and swamps, in unreliable trucks, for a petroleum company. Read More »

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.